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Prospect of Continuous VLBI Measurement of Earth Rotation in Monitoring Geophysical FluidsLarge-scale mass transports in the geophysical fluids of the Earth system excite Earth's rotational variations in both length-of-day and polar motion. The excitation process is via the conservation of angular momentum. Therefore Earth rotation observations contain information about the integrated angular momentum (consisting of both the mass term and the motion term) of the geophysical fluids, which include atmosphere, hydrosphere, mantle, and the outer and inner cores. Such global information is often important and otherwise unattainable depending on the nature of the mass transport, its magnitude and time scale. The last few years have seen great advances in VLBI measurement of Earth rotation in precision and temporal resolution. These advances have opened new. areas in geophysical fluid studies, such as oceanic tidal angular momentum, atmospheric tides, Earth librations, and rapid atmospheric angular momentum fluctuations. Precision of 10 microseconds in UTI and 200 microarcseconds in polar motion can now be achieved on hourly basis. Building upon this heritage, the multi-network geodetic VLBI project, Continuous Observation of the Rotation of the Earth (CORE), promises to further these studies and to make possible studies on elusive but tell-tale geophysical processes such as oscillatory modes in the core and in the atmosphere. Currently the early phase of CORE is underway. Within a few years into the new mellinnium, the upcoming space gravity missions (such as GRACE) will measure the temporal variations in Earth's gravitational field, thus providing complementary information to that from Earth rotation study for a better understanding of global geophysical fluid processes.
Document ID
19990099279
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Chao, Benjamin F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Ma, Chopo
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Clark, Thomas
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Subject Category
Geophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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